By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Ethiopian Minister of Trade Kassahun Ayele has concluded a weeklong trade mission to four U.S. cities, saying his Horn of Africa nation is open for business with the signing of a peace accord in Algiers last month ending its border conflict with Eritrea.

Kassahun told a January 26 morning news conference at the National Press Club that his delegation of seven government officials and 20 Ethiopian business representatives was in America "promoting Ethiopia and introducing resources and opportunities available in Ethiopia."

He said his delegation visited Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Washington, where "we achieved quite encouraging results from businesspeople who have shown an interest" in investing in Ethiopia.

Kassahun cited an agreement signed in Houston with the Houston International Airport "to facilitate support for the Addis Ababa airport and extension of Air Ethiopia flights to Houston." Air Ethiopia already has regular flights to New York and Washington. He also said that while he was in Atlanta, the Coca-Cola company, headquartered there, announced a further investment of $50 million in Ethiopia.

A government tourism official who accompanied Kassahun said that five major regional airports have been constructed in the last few years and that the government has put up four hotel chains for privatization. He added that the airport in Addis Ababa has recently undertaken an expansion worth $270 million, which should also attract more investment. A government transportation official said that telecommunications also could attract investment as Ethiopia seeks to extend phone service to the countryside, where the majority of citizens live.

Kassahun said his trip was meant to complement the U.S. trade mission that was sent to Ethiopia a year ago by the American-Ethiopian Business Council, a trade advocacy organization established in the United States three years ago. "We want to expand this type of activity, and so decided to mount a reverse trade mission to the United States," he explained.

Kassahun said that after signing an accord with Eritrea in Algiers last month, "Ethiopia is committed to implementing the peace agreement with Eritrea. We want to have this conflict behind us." Timing for the trade mission is right, he added, because of the recent passage into law of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows duty-free entry into the U.S. market of products from African nations who are reforming their economies along open- market lines.

In Washington, Kassahun said, his delegation met with U.S. officials to go over "paperwork" and discuss Ethiopian eligibility under AGOA. He said that after a final meeting later in the day with U.S. Customs officials, "we hope [that] within weeks we'll have our products in the U.S. market."

Kassahun also assured his audience that since the end of the military regime of the dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, "there has been no command economy" in Ethiopia. The goal now, he said, is to spur reconstruction of the Ethiopian infrastructure by increasing exports, and to that end "we are introducing Ethiopia to the rest of the world" as a willing partner for open- market trade and investment.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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